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Duke University Medical Center
Department of Radiation Oncology
March, 2008
Residency Program in Medical Physics
A. Program Objectives and Structure
The objective of the Residency Program is to train individuals with medical physics and related education
to practice professional radiation oncology physics as well as to carry out original research in medical
physics. The program will provide comprehensive structured education and training in a clinical
environment. Residents, under the supervision of board-certified medical physicists, participate in the
clinical duties of a radiation oncology physicist. The resident trainee will be, upon completion of the
program, competent in radiation oncology physics practice and implementation of new technology, and
prepared to sit for the certification examination of the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic
Radiological Physics. As an option, the program will help the resident pick a research project that is likely
to be completed with the residency period, to prepare the resident to be a leader in developing new
technology in medical physics.
The Residency Program is housed in the Division of Medical Physics, of Department of Radiation
Oncology, Duke University Medical Center. The department is divided into three divisions: Clinical
Radiation Oncology, Radiation Physics, and Radiation Biology.
The Program is supervised by the Director of the Radiation Physics, Fang-Fang Yin, Ph.D, and with the
oversight of the Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Christopher Willett, M.D.
The director of the Residency Program is Fang-Fang Yin, Ph.D. The Program has two associate directors
to oversee the daily operations: Shiva Das, Ph.D., who oversees the academic aspects, and Haijun Song,
Ph.D., who oversees the clinical training aspects of the Program.
The residency program enjoys a unique education resource at Duke. The department of Radiation
Oncology is one of the five sponsoring departments to the Medical Physics Graduate Program at Duke
(http://medicalphysics.duke.edu/), which admits about twenty graduate students every year. Through this
affiliation, the resident is arranged to take didactic courses in radiation therapy physics.
B. Training Content
The training essentials will be consistent with recommendations presented in AAPM Report Number 90,
“Essentials and Guidelines for Hospital-based Medical Physics Residency Training Programs”.
There are three main components to the training: didactic, clinical rotation and optional research.
B1. Didactic Curriculum
Below is the required course list. If the resident has taken equivalent courses (equivalency to be
determined by the residency program) prior to start of the residency, the resident can be exempt from
such courses.
1. Radiobiolgy. Offered at Department of Radiation Oncology.
2. MP 200. Radiation physics (3 c.h.). A course covering the basics of ionizing and non-ionizing
radiation, atomic and nuclear structure, basic nuclear and atomic physics, radioactive decay,
interaction of radiation with matter, and radiation detection and dosimetry.
3. MP 220. Radiation therapy physics (3 c.h.). This introductory course has a clinical
orientation, and reviews the rationale, basic science, methods, instrumentation techniques and
applications of radiation therapy to the treatment of a wide range of human diseases. Major
radiation modalities are covered including low and high energy photon therapy, electron and

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proton therapy, and low and high-dose rate brachytherapy. The clinical process of treatment,
methods of calculating dose to patient, and the role of the medical physicist in radiation
oncology clinic, are covered in detail.
4. MP 205. Anatomy and physiology for medical physicists (3 c.h.). A course focused on
medical terminology, biochemistry pertaining to MP, basic Anatomy and physiology, elementary
tumor and cancer biology, and overview of disease in general. Upon completion, the student
should: (a) understand anatomic structures, their relationships, their cross-sectional and planar
projections, and how they are modified by attenuation and artifacts in the final images; (b)
understand the physiology underlying radionuclide images, (c) understand how (a) – (b) are
modified by disease, (d) identify anatomical entities in medical images (different modalities), and
(e).identify basic disease features in medical images (e.g., Pneumothorax in chest radiographs,
microcalcoifications in mammograms).
5. MP 322. Advanced photon beam radiation therapy (3 c.h.). This course will cover the
physics and clinical application of advanced external beam photon therapies with special
emphasis on IMRT. Prerequisite: MP 220.
6. MP 210. Radiation protection (3 c.h.). Course discusses the principles of radiation protection
dealing with major forms of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, the physics and chemistry of
radiation biology, biological effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiations (lasers, etc.) at
cellular and tissue levels, radiation protection quantities and units, medical HP issues in clinical
environments, radiation safety regulations, and basic problem solving in radiation safety.
Courses 2-6 are offered at the Medical Physics Graduate Program at Duke.
In addition, the resident is expected to attend several seminars and give talks on current topics on a
regular basis.
A number of departmental and divisional conferences take place on a regular basis. Attendance at these
conferences helps the resident to develop an in-depth understanding of the clinical challenges associated
with the practice of medical physics in radiation oncology. The resident is expected to attend the weekly
departmental chart round and weekly Rauch Seminar. The resident is required to attend at least 50
percent of appropriate learning opportunities. The resident is scheduled to present his own research or a
review of published articles at Post-Doc’s Talk series approximately once every six months.
B2. Clinical Rotation
The 24-month residency is divided into eight rotations. Each rotation covers several training topics with
multiple learning objectives. Each training topic is individually evaluated and summarized at the end of
rotation. The resident is required to turn in Rotation Reports.
Topics and Rotation of Clinical Training
Rotation Training Topics
I 1. Monthly and Daily QA of linac, simulator and CT/CT-sim
II 2. Annual quality assurance of linac, simulator and CT simulator
3. Linac acceptance and commissioning
4. Radiation output calibration of linac and orthovoltage
5. Commissioning of treatment planning system
III 6. Treatment planning: manual, computer aided 2D and 3DCRT
7. Chart checking
8. Design and fabrication of treatment aids
IV 9. IMRT: commissioning, treatment planning and QA

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V 10. SRS, SRT and SBRT
11. IGRT
VI 12. Brachytherapy LDR and GYN LDR
13. Brachytherapy HDR, QA, source calibration and procedure
VII 14. Brachytherapy prostate seed implant
15. Brachytherapy eye plaque
VIII 16.Other special procedures: TSI/TBI, commissioning and procedure, in-vivo dosimetry,
application of TLD and other dosimeters.
17. Radiation Safety
The resident will get an orientation on the rotation schedule at beginning of the residency.
One supervisor will be assigned to oversee each rotation. The supervisor will be responsible for
coordinating with other staff physicists and other staff members of the department to cover the training
topics. The supervisor will also be responsible the evaluation of the whole rotation.
B3. Research
To prepare the resident to implement the ever-emerging new technology in medical physics and to be a
leader in developing new technology, the program trains the resident in conducting research, as an
option, depending on the time constraint and the interest of the resident. The program will help the
resident pick a research topic that is likely to finish within the time frame of the residency and provide
necessary resource. The resident is also trained in submitting to professional society meetings and peer-
reviewed journals in medical physics.
C. Resources
C1. Staff
As listed in the Table below, the Radiation Physics Division consists of 19 full-time radiation oncology
physicists, 12 with ABR or ABMP certification, 15 with a Ph.D. degree and 4 with a Master’s. Also part of
the Physics group are IT and linac engineers. Members from other areas of the department are also
involved in the running of the Program: radiation oncologists, dosimetry, hyperthermia, and radiobiology.
Table of Staff for the Medical Physics Residency Program.
Name Teaching/Training Specialty
Fang-Fang Yin, Ph.D., DABR
Professor of Radiation Oncology
Director, Radiation Physics Division
IMRT, IGRT, new technologies
Shiva Das, Ph.D., DABR
Associate Professor
Associate Director of MP Residency Program
IMRT, functional image-guided RT (PET, SPECT),
beam optimization, neural network modeling,
hyperthermia modeling
Haijun Song, Ph.D., DABR
Assistant Professor
Associate Director of MP Residency Program
IMRT, brachytherapy, reference dosimetry, particle
RT.
James Bowsher, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Clinical operations
Zheng Chang, Ph.D., DABR
Assistant Professor
Clinical operations
Oana Craciunescu, Ph.D., DABR
Assistant Professor
IMRT, total body photon irradiation (TBI); TSI,
hyperthermia, MR prognostic factors
Devon Godfrey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
IMRT, IGRT
Wei Luo, Ph.D.
Associate
IMRT, Monte Carlo modeling